Heather- I have read the first 2 chapters of Readicide on-line and thought I would share... This past year (school is out already for me) my principal took on homework and the idea of getting kids to read. In the past teachers had the typical homework -read for 30 minutes and respond in writing, and a math or spelling or social studies assignment. Well, after reading Homework Without Tears and The Homework Myth (I think those are the titles), my principal decided (with teacher collaboration and agreement) that homework would be "just read". That's it. No written response -unless the child wanted to. They had a homework journal to jot notes in, make comments, note the title of a loved book, etc. But, it wasn't a requirement. What was a requirement was that they have a conversation about what they read, at home, and then come back to school the next day ready to talk about what they read with a partner. In my class they chose their own partner each day. The principal even made up a list of comprehension questions that could be used to generate a conversation.
I taught 3rd grade this year. It was sketchy at first, the kids telling their parents they had no homework, not being prepared to have a discussion the next day, etc... So, I read a few books aloud and generated a conversation about them using the questions or sentence starters from the principal's list. I even modeled making a few notes in my journal so I would be ready to talk about the book the next day -sort of like reminders. And boy did things change! I had them share their reading the first 10 minutes of each day. Now they came in ready to talk! They would find a partner and share their reading experiences. There was a bustle of activity and discussion. Students were starting to read books other students talked about. Students were forming their own book clubs or partnerships. They would read the same book and come back ready to talk. I had a group of boys (3 of them) each read a sci-fi/fantasy book then come back and share about how they were the same and different. None of this was assigned by me. They just did it because they were interested and excited. It made the world of difference for 2 of my students who hated reading and became "reading animals". It increased the time spent reading on nearly all my students. Reading had become fun and enjoyable, not a task to do. Many teachers were concerned about the accountability piece. What about the child that doesn't read, but pretends they do? They wanted parent signatures each night. I have been down that road, and parents will sign whether the kid read or not. In my class, I walked around during the discussion. It was easy to figure out who had not read. I had individual conferences with them to find out why. Sometimes there is a valid reason. By a month into it, all but 1 or 2 were reading every night. That was much better than the return rate of worksheet homework. When we gathered together for the first lesson of the day, I would often call on one or two students to share what their partner had said about reading. This made them accountable listeners. They had to be able to share what was said to them. It also made them active listeners in that if they didn't understand something, they asked questions so they could share with others what was said. I loved this homework and it made many students love reading once again. Jan Unless we reach into our students¹ hearts, we have no entry into their minds. -Regie Routman On 6/12/09 6:02 PM, "Heather Green" <[email protected]> wrote: > I am reading through the responses now-- very interesting. Thanks for > sharing that link. > So, I just can't stop thinking about this now. This year in my 1st grade > room we kind of did Daily 5, but since we switch classes for reading, we > only got an hour of daily 5 time in a day. I split the hour into two > sessions where they could choose either Read to Self or Work on Writing. At > the end of each session I would give some students time to share what they > were reading. I think this was the BEST thing I could have ever done. The > kids like to hear each other talk about books, especially ones that kept > coming up again and again. There were always about 10 kids waving their > hands in the air to be the next to read the book. > I think this created an atmosphere where kids loved reading. I had a few > parents say to me at the end of the year "thank you for helping so-and-so > love reading again". I never gave much thought to why this occurred until > this whole conversation started. > The problem was that, I felt like I wasn't teaching enough. I did teach > some comprehension strategies, but mostly we just talked about books. I kept > thinking, "This is too easy. I am being lazy." Maybe we are making things > harder than they need to be? > And I know, too, that things different depending on the grade you teach. > It's pretty easy to get 1st graders turned on to reading compared to 6th > graders, I'm sure. > > On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Joy <[email protected]> wrote: > >> There is an interesting discussion about Readacide going on here: >> >> http://englishcompanion.ning.com/group/ecnbookclubreadicide/forum/topics/read >> icide-let-the-discussion _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
